“Why, the whole world will pay to see this…” Carl Denham, King Kong, 1933 For Immediate Release 07 September 2009 Contact: Jo Swetenham 020 7752 3121
[email protected] THE EIGHTH WONDER OF THE WORLD KING KONG ARMATURE ESTIMATE: £100,000-150,000 Popular Culture: Film & Entertainment Memorabilia 24 November 2009 “And now, ladies and gentlemen…I'm going to show you the greatest thing your eyes have ever beheld. He was a king and a god in the world he knew, but now he comes to civilization merely a captive - a show to gratify your curiosity. Ladies and gentlemen, look at Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World.” Carl Denham, King Kong, 1933 Just as fictional explorer and film director Carl Denham enthralled crowds in the 1933 epic, seventy-five years on Christie’s South Kensington invites you to journey back and share in the spectacle that was King Kong as it presents the giant ape himself as the highlight of the November Popular Culture sale. This unique relic, the 22-inch armature (metal skeleton) (estimate: £100,000-150,000), was used to allow the animated ape to scale the dizzying heights of the Empire State Building in the films poignant and climactic final scenes. The King Kong storyline was the vision of adventurer and documentary maker Merian C. Cooper who worked alongside cinema legends including RKO chief technician Willis O’Brien to breathe life into this risky and expensive production. O’Brien, a pioneer in stop-motion animation, took on the challenge of creating the life-like illusion of a 50 foot ape.